Doha 3 Conference – Opportunity or Distraction

There is another Afghanistan meeting coming up in Doha, currently scheduled for 30 June and 1 July.  In the episode we discuss the UN’s efforts to get the Taliban to the table. In trying to take forward their Doha process, the UN has had to balance competing interests.  The Taliban want to pose as the sole representatives of Afghanistan and to block any move to appoint a UN Special Envoy.  Special Representatives for the G7 countries want to see girls back in school, women’s rights restored and progress towards a genuinely broad-based administration, before any normalisation of Afghanistan’s relationship with the international community.

Regardless of whether the Taliban participate in Doha 3 or in any subsequent meetings, they have been pretty consistent in their stance regarding the future of the Afghan political system.  The Taliban have made it clear that they intend to retain their monopoly of power running as a one-party clerical state.  They have signalled that they have no intention of compromising on rights issues. Instead, ensconced in power and under little military pressure, the Taliban are content to wait for the region and international players to accept them on their own terms.

The UN calculated that the Taliban would not sign up for a meeting where they could expect to face criticism over their failures.  One idea for a safe idea was counter-narcotics, as international representatives might even applaud the Amir’s decrees banning the production, trafficking and use of narcotics.  But when you look at the Taliban’s actual records on counter-narcotics, the picture is much more nuanced.

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.